Thursday, April 30, 2009

Chris Matthews and Jay Leno, April 29

The Obama First 100 Days celebration extended into Wednesday's late night programming on NBC.

Jay Leno recognized the joyous occasion on the Tonight Show.

As usual, Leno's monologue was peppered with jokes at the expense of President Bush and the Republicans. Obama remained untouchable.

To help mark Obama's 100th day in office, Leno had Chris Matthews as a guest, to discuss the historic day, the milestone that was so significant that it just had to be marked on late night TV.



Pathetic.

Mercifully, Matthews was not the first guest. Jimmy Fallon had that honor, receiving two long segments. Matthews, on after Fallon, had a rather brief amount of airtime.

Even though his time was limited, Matthews still managed to express his deep love for Obama.

It was embarrassing.

He didn't talk about a thrill going up his leg, but the effect was the same.

Matthews is not a nuanced guy. He speaks in generalities and delivers his opinion as if it were gospel. Naturally, that makes him sound like a hack propagandist rather than an intelligent analyst.

And lib Leno eats it up.

Leno wanted Matthews to grade Obama's first 100 days. Matthews initially wanted to go with a pass - fail grade. That was a ruse. Matthews wouldn't be content with awarding Obama a simple "pass." That would be inadequate.

He started citing poll numbers and asserted, "One thing you can say is nobody wants to go back to Bush."

"Nobody"? That's a stupid comment.

Matthews compared Obama to Reagan.

"He's like Reagan. People like him who don't agree with him."

Ronald Reagan won two terms. He was reelected in a landslide. I think it's nuts for Matthews to put Obama in the same league as Reagan at this early stage in his presidency.

Finally, Matthews got around to giving his grades:

The First Family -- A+
The First Dog -- A
Obama -- A-

Matthews adores Michelle Obama. Actually, it's creepy. Anyway, the A+ for the First Family makes sense.

A- for Obama?

Matthews was really rough on Obama, tacking on that minus. The audacity! Matthews said that the minus was because of the way the government is printing money. He said it was scary.

On the positive side, Matthews said, "We're a popular country again."

Good grief.

Of course we're popular. Why wouldn't other countries like an appeaser and a weakened U.S.?

Matthews also noted, "We've got the most popular world leader in the world. That's a big change."

He hates President Bush. That aside, this isn't a popularity contest. According to Matthews, a good leader is measured by his or her popularity. That's cult of personality stuff, not substance and ability.

Leno quickly asked for Matthews' views on some issues.

ON THE SOMALI PIRATES:

Matthews was impressed with the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips. Referring to Obama, he said, "Nobody can say this guy's a weakling."

I believe Obama was cowering in his office talking to lawyers to determine what to do in the hostage situation involving Capt. Phillips. The Navy SEALs who saved Phillips are the brave men, not Obama.

ON ARLEN SPECTER:

Matthews said Specter was "saving his butt" politically.

I agree with Matthews on that. I'm not sure he'll succeed, but that is what Specter is trying to do.

ON PAKISTAN:

Matthews declared, "I think that's where bin Laden is." Yeah? Well, go get him!

He talked about Pakistan being a powder keg.

Leno brought up the Taliban and said that it "has nothing to do with Islam."

That's crazy. Of course the Taliban has religious elements. It's made up of Islamic fundamentalists.

Matthews slightly corrected Leno by saying, "Well, it's extreme."

That's putting it mildly.

What's wrong with these Lefties that they don't want to say that Islam is an integral part of the Taliban's ideology? It is what it is.

ON THE TORTURE MEMOS:

When Leno asked if it was right to release the memos, Matthews replied, "I think we can handle the truth."

He said that the decision to torture came from the top, that John McCain and Lindsey Graham and the Republicans all signed off on it. Matthews then slipped in that Democrats were part of it as well, but he mentioned none of them by name.

As far as prosecuting anyone in the Bush administration, Matthews said, "Barack is probably right. We shouldn't have big show trials."

Earlier in the interview, Leno also called Obama "Barack."

He does that a lot, and so does Matthews.

Last July when Matthews was on the Tonight Show, he kept talking about "Barack." I thought it was so strange to refer to candidate Obama by just his first name.

At the time I wrote:

Matthews repeatedly called Obama "Barack." Have you noticed that the Dems and their mouthpieces in the lib media have taken to calling Obama by his first name?

Barack, Barack, Barack. I don't hear them calling McCain "John."

That practice really annoys me. It's so odd.

In general, this Obama-mania is annoying.

And no one is more of an Obama-maniac than Matthews.

Since the most momentous 100th day in an American presidency has passed, I wonder what the media will do now.

Start obsessing over the second 100 days?

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